Christ for Veterans and Their Families

LCMS Ministry of the Armed Forces

2017–2019 Mission Grant 3 — $27,750

Operation Barnabas, an extension of MAF, provides a network of care through trained congregations that want to reach out to members of the military, their families and the veterans in their congregations and communities. Operation Barnabas, the only program of its kind in the U.S., together with LCMS congregations seeks to care for Reserve Chaplains and their families and congregations; train and assist local congregations in their care and support of local military members and their families and veterans.

Funds requested by the Ministry to the Armed Forces (MAF) will be utilized to host national training events for Operation Barnabas, an extension of MAF, which provides a network of care through trained congregations that want to reach out to members of the military, their families, and the veterans in their congregations and communities.

Resources

• Bulletin Bytes (Word doc)
• Devotion
• Prayer Guide and Story
• Prayer Guide — Large Print
• Story — Large Print
• Mission Grant Poster — color
• Mission Grant Poster — black/white

Donate to the LWML Mission Goal

Mercy House for Women and Children

Franklin Avenue Mission, Flint, Michigan

2017–2019 Mission Grant 2 — $100,000

Future home for women and children — an extension of Franklin Avenue Mission. The Mission purchased this abandoned house adjacent to its site where interior demolition is completed. Plans are underway to redesign, remodel and add on to the structure.

The Franklin Avenue Mission in Flint, Michigan, has purchased a residence next door to the mission, and is seeking funds to redesign, renovate, refurbish, and furnish the residence. Named Mercy House for Women and Children, the facility will house six to eight homeless, pregnant, and/or abused women and their children. Located in one of the poorest cities in America, the home will attempt to break the cycle of poverty and decrease the potential for abuse, by housing women and children in a safe, caring, Christian environment, where the best practices of parenting and relationship building can be modeled and taught.

Resources

• Bulletin Bytes
• Devotion
• Prayer Guide and Story
• Prayer Guide — Large Print
• Story — Large Print
• Mission Grant Poster — color
• Mission Grant Poster — black/white

Donate to the LWML Mission Goal

Providing Food and the Gospel to Starving Children

Mercy Meals of Siouxland

2017–2019 Mission Grant 1 — $40,000

Christian volunteers in Haiti prepare Mercy Meals and serve them to the children in feeding lines.

Jesus gives the same command today, to feed the hungry, that He gave His disciples. Mercy Meals of Siouxland, a ministry of Faith Lutheran Church, Sioux City, Iowa, began packaging fortified rice/soy meals in 2012. Mercy Meals donates all packaged meals to Orphan Grain Train for transportation and delivery to Christian organizations in many countries, including India, Haiti, Romania, and Ecuador, as well as to Navajo reservations in the Southwest and Ysleta Mission in El Paso, Texas. Children and families receive food and hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. An LWML grant will feed from 50,000 to 75,000 hungry children.

Resources

• Bulletin Bytes
• Devotion
• Prayer Guide and Story
• Prayer Guide — Large Print
• Story — Large Print
• Mission Grant Poster — color
• Mission Grant Poster — black/white

Donate to the LWML Mission Goal

LCMS Chaplain Ministry to the Armed Forces

The LCMS Ministry to the Armed Forces supports almost 200 chaplains, who represent the church on active duty, the reserves, the National Guard, and Civil Air Patrol. Chaplains meet the needs of military personnel and their families. We care deeply for those men and women who currently serve in our armed forces and they are in our prayers. But for those pastors who have put on the uniform of our military, and for those who served our nation and live in our communities, there is deep gratitude.

Resources

Bulletin Bytes
Devotion
Prayer Guide and Story
Prayer Guide — Large Print
Story — Large Print

Donate to the LWML Mission Goal

Additional Resources — Hunger

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? … And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ Matthew 25:34–40.

This passage of Scripture gives us a vivid picture of what Jesus wants our mission work to look like. Indeed many of our LWML Mission Grants help fund programs that address the issues of hunger and poverty. Sadly, hunger is a growing problem in the United States. According to www.feedingamerica.org, in 2015, 42.2 million Americans lived in food-insecure households, including 29.1 million adults and 13.1 million children.

Resources

Bulletin Bytes
Devotion
Prayer Guide and Story
Prayer Guide — Large Print
Story — Large Print

Donate to the LWML Mission Goal